Bournemouth’s mid-October visit to the Cottage produced an eventful 2-2 draw but somehow Molly Hudson’s report in the Times failed to mention any of the 15 Fulham’s players involved.
Instead she concentrated on the visitors’ ‘Perfect Number Nine’ Dominic Solanke. The former England international is a decent footballer and he has certainly been a thorn in Fulham’s side over the years (like delaying our Championship last April).
In that October match he scored one and made another, winning the praise of his manager Gary O’Neil but as Ms Hudson conceded it was only his second Premier League goal of the season.
I await a similar tribute to Harrison Reed and Bobby DeCordova-Reid, who, prior to the Leeds match, had scored just as often in addition to performing their defensive and mid-field duties.
Fulham’s defeat of Aston Villa had precipitated the departure of manager Steven Gerrard.
Three days later, the Whites’ visit to a rainy Elland Road must have caused some concern to Jesse Marsch, whose tenure was also under threat. The Yorkshire club had gone six matches without a win and were facing a team back to full strength with Tosin and Harry Wilson returning to the starting line-up.
Harry was soon giving the referee earache. More effective was Reed’s pile-driver that beat keeper Ilian Meslier and needed a goal-line clearance by Marc Roca.
To the home fans’ delight their team went ahead in the 19th minute. Roca started the move that put Jack Harrison through and as Tim Ream sought to block his effort the ball looped to Rodrigo, who headed in from close range.
There was a swift reply from the Aleksandar Mitrovic and Andreas Pereira connection, which is now almost uncanny. Yet again the Serb casually nodded home a Pereira corner.
It seemed inevitable that more goals would follow, though after the interval the home side looked the more dangerous, especially when Patrick Bamford entered the fray seeking his 100th league goal. Bernd Leno’s dazzling save denied him that.
Andreas Pereira punctured any dreams of a home victory by supplying a perfect header for an unmarked Bobby DeCordova-Reid with 16 minutes left.
A sly backheel by Mitro allowed Harrison Reed to feed Willian, who inflicted further grief on Jesse Marsch by increasing Fulham’s lead. A last-ditch goal by Crysencio Summerville did little to appease the Leeds supporters.
Harrison Reed was voted Man of the Match, some distance ahead of Pereira and Willian.
The latter was delighted to open his Fulham account but refused to get too excited about the team’s exalted standing in the Premier League table: "We have to go step by step, game by game, week by week. We have another difficult game to play (Everton next Saturday) so let’s do it."
Are you listening, Frank Lampard?
Like commentators Jim and Jamie, I am amazed that Villa’s Douglas Luiz had his red card rescinded yet now Keith Hackett wants the referee punished for ‘a mistake of this magnitude’.
Yes Mitro overdramatised as he often does, but the VAR pictures clearly showed Luiz putting his head forward in an aggressive stance. Plenty of players have been sent off for similar actions and plenty of worse mistakes have been made by officials without being rescinded from above.
Protracted use of VAR slows the game down and if the decision is later overturned it is in danger of becoming futile.
The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and unless specifically stated are not necessarily those of Hammersmith & Fulham Council.
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